Sophie Wood and Kurt Taylor ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this week (20th August).

Our weekly parkrun top ten is sponsored by 1001 Running Tips by our editor Robbie Britton. Want to run faster at parkrun or your next marathon then order your copy today.

Another sunny summer afternoon and people have been busy at parkrun once again. You can’t help but think the performances of Laura Muir and Eilish McColgan in Munich might have played a part in such speedy times.

The quickest female runner was Sophie Wood, who is in fine form at the moment. Only a couple of seconds away from a Jess Piasecki course record at South Manchester parkrun, 16:45 is excellent work on a Saturday morning.

The fastest chap was Kurt Taylor of Bristol and West AC. At Torbay Velopark Taylor comfortably broke the 15 minute barrier with 14:50. Given that 2022’s PBs already include a 5000m mark of 14:02 and a 5k best of 14:17, the new parkrun PB was coming in hot. Add to that a 10k under 30 minutes and a half marathon of 66:49 and you’d think Taylor’s marathon PB of 2:57:57 might be in considerable danger.

No one is hanging around

There were two more men under 15 minutes today, Ollie Garrod and Rowan Miell-Ingram. Given that Garrod is racing the World 100k Championships next weekend in Berlin it seems the team Hour 7 athlete is coming into shape at just the right time with a new parkrun PB for the man who’s finished first at more events than anyone else.

Miell-Ingram has featured before in our rankings, but is another athlete who’s seen Pbs all over the shop in 2022. From 800 to 5000m on the track there has been improvements and also on the road for 5k, where the U20 ran 14:33 at Cardiff Race For Victory 5K back in May.

The other female athlete to break 17 minutes is no stranger to being on a podium. Sonia Samuels, a 2:28 marathoner, is fresh off the back of a 74:23 at Newark Half Marathon last weekend and is hopefully eyeing up another strong marathon after running 2:32 in Manchester in the Spring.

Third female was Rebecca Flaherty of Bingley Harriers & AC, who ran 17:03 at Bradford parkrun. It’s another excellent progression for the U17 athlete, who was third at the Northern XC Champs earlier this year in Pontefract. July also saw a 9:45 3000m in the English Schools Championships that was good enough for third place, so the endurance is clearly a strong point for the Yorkshire youngster.

Fastest course?

It looks like no event featured more than once this weekend, but a shout-out to friend of Fast Running Shaun Dixon, who was one of two athletes who ran strongly at Amsterdamse Bos parkrun in Holland. Dixon ran 15:38, but was beaten to the line by Tim Schwippel with 15:18.

Men’s

Women’s

We don’t think anyone reads this bit, but if you do then we highly recommend 1001 Running Tips by Robbie Britton, found here.